Reifer impressed by WI players

West Indies head coach Floyd Reifer has said that he is encouraged by the mental toughness shown by the players, especially the batsmen, in the ongoing Tri-Nations Series against home side Ireland and Bangladesh.

The West Indies have won two of their three matches played so far and have virtually assured themselves a place in the final.

Reifer said he was especially pleased by the Windies’ approach in chasing down an ODI record total of 328 against Ireland in their last match.

He said the coaching staff had worked hard during practice sessions, getting the players’ mindset ready to play cricket.

“I am very happy with the results so far. The mental approach of the players has been excellent. I thought the players adapted very well to the conditions. The conditions are not what we are accustomed to, so I thought the players adapted very well,” Reifer said.

“The way that we played the first three games, the two games that we won against Ireland, I thought the approach was very good. Chasing 329 runs, the mindset was very positive…and I thought the batting unit did a very good job there. It’s a young team, and most of the guys have not played a lot of ODI cricket, so it’s good to see the approach to the batting has been clinical.”

Reifer was also full of praise for Sunil Ambris, who scored his maiden century in that winning performance.

He said Ambris was originally slated to bat at number seven, but volunteered to open the innings after John Campbell was unable to play due to a sore back.

“Firstly, we have to commend Sunil [Ambris] for raising his hand and taking the opportunity at the top of the order. His first game, you could tell he was a little nervous, [but] we had a couple meetings after that, and we watched some footage together and pointed out a few areas he could improve on.

“I thought he played a magnificent innings. It was well-thought out, and he paced the innings, and I don’t think he played a false shot,” Reifer said.

He said the innings would go a long way in building Ambris’ confidence and would also benefit the West Indies in the long run.

“We have players who are not in the World Cup team who are still putting in performances like this and this is what we want to see,” he said.